rhetorical analysis 1 : volkswagon commercial

The always popular Volkswagon commercials entice and intrigue viewers of all ages. Though primarily targeted at the youth of America, approximately ages fourteen through thirty, I have personally seen all ages crack up to this commercial. Volkswagon uses the element of humor to draw in the audience’s attention. This commercial mainly pertains to the pathos of the reader. They are trying to appeal to the audience’s sense of humor by dressing in outlandish costumes and poking fun at teenager’s senses of “coolness.” This commercial is taking a jab at the popular show “Pimp My Ride” on MTV. On the show they “trick out” cars by painting them bright colors, and making them look out of the ordinary. This commercial also quotes a popular Snoop Dogg song “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” after dropping a brand new car on Jason’s old, outdated car. In addition, the German engineer in trying to be cool attempts at making some sort of Volkswagon hand gesture much like that of well known American gangs. A nickname of “Vdub” is used, poking fun at teenager’s use of slang terms and modern lingo. This commercial does a good job appealing to it’s target audience although it appears outlandish. There was no noticable logos or ethos. The main focus was on the pathos in this commercial. 

            This commercial also uses logical fallacies, the abuse of logic, to captivate the audience’s attention. Volkswagon greatly exaggerates what the youth think is cool and how they dress. They try to portray the image that if you drive a Volkswagon, you are automatically considered cool. Obviously this is not true because cool does not necessarily have a definition, nor is it defined by a type of car. Another logical fallacy in the commercial is that German’s are all really smart and technologically savvy. They have engineers in their stereotypical white lab coats with thick German accents. Once again, all Volkswagon employees are not remarkably intelligent German engineers with thick German accents.

            Different ages and nationalities may view this commercial differently. German’s may take offense to the abuse of their accent in the commercial. The elderly may not understand the jokes that Volkswagon is trying to convey if they are not up to date with modern pop culture. Even middle aged adults might not get the joke of the commercial if they do not have teenage children or if they are simply out of the loop. Volkswagon took a risk in making this commercial at offending many of it’s potential customer’s; however, from experience, their target audience approves of the humor in their commercial. I believe this commercial was successful in relaying their message to their target audience.